


Set your life on fire (Seek those who fan your flames)

by Kipachie



Category: Critical Role (Web Series)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Alternate Universe - Future, Caleb Widogast Has Issues, Established Essek Thelyss/Caleb Widogast, Established Relationship, Evil AU, Evil Shadowgast, Google translate was used, M/M, POV Essek Thelyss, Suggestive Themes, What's sexier than wizards? NOTHING
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-12-31
Updated: 2020-12-30
Packaged: 2021-03-11 05:34:38
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,408
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28439946
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kipachie/pseuds/Kipachie
Summary: “A forest sighs with relief when the fire clears it of choking vines. You are a wildfire Caleb. There is no shame in letting yourself burn.” He says softly, grazing the back of his hand along his lover’s cheek before cupping his jaw with both hands. “The forest will thank you for the room you’ve given it to grow, even if it cost them a few trees.”
Relationships: Essek Thelyss & Caleb Widogast, Essek Thelyss/Caleb Widogast, Shadowgast - Relationship
Comments: 12
Kudos: 35





	Set your life on fire (Seek those who fan your flames)

.

Essek had seen hunger and want in Caleb’s eyes a hundred times. Soft eyes that lapped at Essek’s soul like the Lucidian ocean would turn to cut sapphires and blue dragon flame in a moment if Essek played his cards just right. There was this one spot just beneath that handsome jaw of his that if Essek lavished with a heated kiss cause that exact reaction. The first time Essek had seen Caleb’s eyes alight with power was the last time Essek would ever care about the world around him.

Caleb’s hand still held out straight, smoke curling from his fingers as the remnants of a fireball burned lazily over blackened corpses. Caleb’s chest heaved while the corners of his mouth curled in a forbidden smirk. Both of them were bloody and wounded but far from death still. Some blood was half-dried on Caleb’s scalp from his hairline, and his pale skin was likely bruising head to toe. Essek seemed better off but the pain in one leg shooting up and down his left half suggested something beneath the surface. No matter, they’d heal up in a moment he could handle the pain. Essek limped up beside him, feeling the electric pulse of the arcane already still a few feet away. Whenever magic was cast around him he could always feel the buzz, though usually at levels far less than the caster felt. The stronger the spell, the more intense the air around them.

This was almost frightening. It was like a wall once he was right beside Caleb, whose hand was lowering slowly. A power so intense lingering off the wizard Essek felt he’d cast the fireball himself. He blinked a few times to regain his mind. All this surrounding magic was just excess. What sort of power had the spell actually created for this level of raw energy to just be what was left behind? Despite the feeling of a wall at first Essek found he could pass through it like a thick fog to snake his hand up Caleb’s front, mere inches from their bodies behind pressed firmly together.

The touch shook Caleb out of his own head, those burning eyes meeting his. All breath left Essek’s lungs at the sight of his eyes shifting to a soft longing when their eyes met. This mage, this inferno of a man, could raze the whole continent to the ground if he so chose. Yet he softened for _him_. That alone caused power to flow through Essek. Something about him was _worthy_ in Caleb’s eyes and there truly was no greater feeling than being favored by a man worthy of godhood.

“How do you feel my love?” he whispered, nuzzling into Caleb’s throat.

“Here, I have a potion left. You’re limping.” His lover replied, pressing a vial into Essek’s hands with a smile. As instructed he drank the thick liquid and felt a sigh leave his mouth as he felt his leg right itself mostly. It felt stiff but in one piece.

“To answer your question I uh... I am unsure...” the wizard mumbled. “Of how I feel.”

Holding onto the collar of his coat Essek leaned back in confusion. “What do you mean? I can feel you, can you not feel yourself?”

“I feel like I should be ashamed.”

Essek couldn’t stifle his disbelieving laugh completely, “Ashamed? Caleb, you are exquisite. You are a force to shake the very foundations of this pitiful world. If I had that kind of raw power in my veins, I’d feel good. I’d feel very good.”

“That’s the shameful part. I do. Gods, Essek I feel so _good._ ” He breathed, flexing his sooty hands.

“Do you feel powerful?” Essek all but purred into Caleb’s jaw, nuzzling his nose into the harsh scruff of his ruddy beard.

“ _Yes.”_ Was the response he drew from him. A single word, barely spoken as a hiss.

“As you should. Look at you. You have come so far Caleb there is no shame in enjoying the way the fire burns your own skin. It is natural. You cast magic as easily as you breathe.”

Caleb leaned into his worshipping kisses, eyes having fluttered shut. The world around them was stilled save for the occasional crackling of the remaining fire. Every enemy lay before them in blackened ash. All scourgers who had completed the grueling training Caleb had escaped. They had a decade of merciless training over Caleb, and arms injected with residuum. These scourgers were undefeatable in these kinds of numbers even for a squadron of Echo-Knights. Caleb did it single handily, slipping into an almost mechanical state as he reacted at lightning speed to the onslaught. Essek had helped, of course, but barely. Caleb would have absolutely been capable without his help and the thought he felt ashamed by such a feat was eating away at the drow.

“A forest sighs with relief when the fire clears it of choking vines. You are a _wildfire,_ Caleb. There is no shame in letting yourself burn.” He says softly, grazing the back of his hand along his lover’s cheek before cupping his jaw with both hands. “The forest will thank you for the room you’ve given it to grow, even if it cost them a few trees.”

Caleb let out a sigh, his shoulders loosening slightly as he leaned into the touch. He took Essek’s left hand in his and kissed his palm with feather-light kisses. Oh. Oh, how Essek melted beneath his flames in such a different manner than Caleb’s enemies. It took walls of fire to bring down the scourgers. Here stood Essek though, consumed by nothing more than a candle flame. He almost felt like he could handle Caleb’s fury. Caleb’s love? He all but crumbled with every kiss.

An embarrassing moan came suddenly from his mouth as Caleb’s gentle kisses along his neck turned into a feral bite. Essek gripped Caleb’s jacket and leaned into it, a glutton for a little pain.

“Get us home Essek.” Caleb all but growled in his ear. “Don’t make me take you in this scorched field of corpses.”

Essek huffed and pulled back, the huff turning into a quiet chuckle as Caleb seemed unwilling to let go.

“Darling how am I to cast anything if you won’t curb your hunger for even a moment?” he cooed, brushing hair from Caleb’s sweaty brow. “Or am I to be consumed in your blaze as well?”

Essek had said it with obvious fondness and a noticeable hint of lust so he was caught off guard by Caleb holding his face suddenly. His eyes were almost full of hurt but mostly full of a strange, new determination.

“Schatz my fire will _never_ hurt you. I will flatten this world back down to nothing if I must. I will burn everything I foolishly thought was important a few years ago. It’s all false, all lies. I cannot weed the rot out fast enough going piece by piece. By the time I’ve gotten to the end, I look back to the beginning and I need to start all over. They WILL all burn. You? Oh **_mein Mondstrahl_**. My flames will never touch you. Never. You are all I trust, all I love.” He emphasized his words with a searing kiss. “Consume you I shall my little menace, don’t look so disappointed. I’ll never let you be caught up in my fire Schatz.”

_**“Ich liebe dich, meine Glut.”**_ Essek muttered between kisses until Caleb was smiling too wide to reciprocate anymore, allowing Essek to begin his cast of Teleport.

They had barely landed on the floorboards of their hidden little home, a safe haven for two traitors before Essek was forced backward. Not shoved, just guided until he was sandwiched between wall and wizard. Standing in Caleb’s power and feeling the hair standing on end with electricity was heaven enough. Essek was absolutely blessed, however. He pulled Caleb closer by the belt loops on his trousers until Caleb broke the kiss with a sigh, burying his face in Essek’s neck to bite into the dark flesh of his shoulder. His favourite part, when Caleb unleashed what power reserves he hadn’t used in battle, and Essek was at his mercy. To be privy to this man’s power was a gift. A gift he’d do anything to deserve.

If Caleb was the fire to cleanse the earth, Essek would be the wind that fed him.

.

**Author's Note:**

> A prelude/teaser to what will (hopefully) be a longer Evil!Shadowgast fic series. Caleb swears he will burn all of Wildemount to start the system from scratch.
> 
> My awesome google translate german:
> 
> Mein Mondstrahl - My Moonbeam  
> Ich liebe dich, meine Glut - I love you, my ember


End file.
